Clackamette Loop Hike

Overview

This loop at the confluence of the Clackamas and Willamette Rivers takes you on both sides of the Clackamas, passing the old gravel mine at Clackamette Cove and a disused landfill soon to be revitalized with condos and river-view apartments. You'll cross the Clackamas via an old road bridge and loop back long the bluff in Gladstone. The walk is hemmed in by the loud and busy arteries of McLoughlin Boulevard and I-205, but waterfowl can be observed on the Cove and you can look for sea lions in the Willamette. Riverside cottonwoods shade a lot of this route and the area is very popular on warm, sunny days. Walk from the parking lot to the Clackamas River, where there is often a large flock of gulls, ducks and geese begging for food. Then go right to walk under the Dr. John McLoughlin Memorial Bridge and turn right on a dirt road. On your left is the odd, defunct River Resources Museum, once a water treatment facility for the City of Gladstone, which owns the land here (Gladstone is evicting the current tenant in the hopes of selling the land back to Oregon City). Clackamette Cove, an old sand/gravel mining pit is to the left. Try to count the great blue herons posing silently around its shores. Reach the Main Street Extension and go left (There is no sidewalk on this street). After a few minutes, you'll pick up the paved Clackamas River Trail leading off to the left opposite a parking pullout. There are picnic tables and benches along the way as this trail leads above the cottonwood-lined cove with a Scots broom-dotted wasteland to the right (This area has been under negotiation for development as an urban renewal project for many years now). In addition to Scots broom, blackberry, teazel, young cottonwoods and tansy sprout on this blighted flat, some of this formerly the Rossman Landfill that obliterated a wetland. An osprey nest sits atop a tall pole. The trail reaches the Clackamas River and heads east. To the left, a narrow, Douglas-fir lined peninsula leads to the mouth of Clackamette Cove. Gladstone homes

Trail Stats

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